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Note: The ep count is a mistake on my part. Currently up to date with the release.

This anime deals with themes that are supposed to be appealing to both men and women since both go through the qualms of regrets of our youth, academic and work decisions, and the choices we make along the way. Plus the anime doesn't have any harem, ecchi tags, right? So I walked into it thinking I'll have a nice show to watch with decent characters.

1. Misplaced fanservice:

Bokutachi no Remake is apparently a show about a man with underutilized creative potential getting a second chance at life, and he gets ... to intermingle with 3 of the most talented people in the industry in his new life. In his rewound timeline, after taking the road previously not taken, he finds himself in a dorm with 3 people. Hmm, I wonder who they are? By the way, the main cast comprises 2 males and 2 female characters.
3 episodes in, you explore the male characters' personalities, their strengths, and weaknesses.
But the first female is introduced by a boob shot, and the second one gets bra shots and has so little spatial awareness that the only way to file cans in a shelf in an empty room is from behind the male MC in a way that her chest rubs against his skull. Right after a ruminative moment.

It is disheartening that in an anime that is supposed to have themes most people can relate to, half of the main cast is sexualized in these immoderate manners which often break the immersion or ruin the tone of the narrative. What exactly does this anime want its viewers to do? Contemplate life while getting a hardon? Ofc if you only watch anime for fanservice, that's a different devil.
I will exclude harem, ecchi-tagged anime from this sort of criticism because they're what they're supposed to be.

2. Plot

This will be pretty short but here's the gist. What is the point of having an MC remaking his life if apparently, he's already so adept that he becomes everyone's saving grace? Is he a relatable MC or is he what we wish we could've been?

Some dialogues flow as if they were written by a preteen. Interactions are so mechanically emotional, it's akin to watching a melodramatic play. Why is X just frowning while Y (a stranger for all that matters) is spitting hostility towards him? Why does Z accuse X of doing something really specific only to casually take it back for pseudo-bonding after a "fight"?

My complaints would likely increase as I keep watching because the episodes keep declining in their consistency. Overall, the appeal of this anime seems to be on the themes that may be found as relatable to many, but for a lot of reasons, it falls short.

Minor spoilers.

It is unfortunate that this anime did all the things a lot of us hoped it wouldn't do. The conclusion ended up being a romance. After all the back and forth, the Middle-aged man x teen high school girl won, again.
The entire time this anime kept trying to send the message that Sayu is a kid not to be sexualized, and yet it continued to show her in titillating scenes and made her a fanservice doll.
All the drama in this story had no point, literally the only message you can take from this is "Don't have sex with a girl if ... she's still in school and you're not" but by the end, even that point fell flat on its face.

Also, this anime brushed off an attempted rape/blackmail scene, an abusive parent scenario, and an illegal (apparently) co-habiting situation like it was nothing, lol.

The MC: *As a 30-yo he gets kicked out of his relatives' house for masturbating to his niece's CP and gets isekai'd as a kid with the mental continuation*

Braindead fans: "Oh my god, muh interesting MC! A pedophile's redemption story where he gets 3-wives at the end! Character development with no actual repercussions! Father of isekai!"

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Q. What's the difference between Rudeus and an adult man with dwarfism?
A. One gets an excuse to act pedo, the other doesn't!

People had more hate for bitch-san in Shield hero.

If you're one of those people calling yourselves a "man of culture" for enjoying this for the "funny" pedophilia ... and casual sexual harassment and calls anyone who is disturbed by this an SJW, admittedly this review isn't for you. Oh, only SJWs get triggered and cool people like you don't? Keep reading then.

Unironically defending morally wrong content marketed as "Serious" like Redo of a healer (people proudly declaring how it didn't affect them and that makes them superior somehow) or this, doesn't make you cool, it makes you a creep. Just like how someone who seeks out and casually watches cannibalism videos aren't apex predators, they're weirdos. You can like an anime while admitting it does some things wrong.

I've seen people go so far as to defend the fundamental nature of CP while trying to justify this anime. That is why I write this review- for this overhyped, highly-rated, 'serious' anime. And not some average run-of-the-mill stupid harem/ecchi with a 6.0 rating.

The story could've been normal. A traumatized, loser adult getting his character development in a different life.
But no, he's reborn as the exact pervert who enjoyed CP in his past life. Casual sexual assault here and there is sprinkled as 'jokes' (aren't we tired of this in anime yet?). Trying to take off a child's panties and groping her boobs while she's asleep was a joke, or did that scene have meaning? Was it necessary? Absolutely not, it was just pedo bait. They could've kept it in his internal monologues, we begged. But no. Don't forget, this is still a 30-year old, only in a child's body. His 'redemption' happens as he becomes less of a pervert. But the show fails to show meaningful repercussions or consequences directly related to all the characters' actions.

The story didn't need this. At the very least, they could've kept adult females in these 'perverted' settings. You could show perversion without showing obvious pedo bait.

Fans: "But everyone is horny! Everyone can secretly enjoy some casual child molestation! It's fiction! At least we are brave and cool enough to admit it."

Is that what you tell yourself when the kindergarten school bus pulls up in your neighborhood? :P

In all seriousness, enjoy ecchi/harem anime. But make sure you have some brain cells to think, and human decency to feel when you consume content. You don't have to be braindead and swallow everything the industry throws at you. It's anime, not a cumshot.

[This is some extra thought to my already-written Bakuman S1 review. ]

As I said, this anime's central plot about the lives of mangakas is really good. EVEN BETTER THIS SEASON, I'd say! However, some elements haven't improved, rather I feel like I should bring them up again with emphasis. Oh yes, the romance between Miho and Mashiro is less creepy and whacky now that they're talking on the phone. Anyhow.

Writing female characters is Ohba's Achilles heel.

1. The show is obsessed with Miho's "purity".

2. Aiko - that could've been an amazing character, was written to be snobby, uptight, and prideful. Not only that. Her entire ... story could've been about being a mangaka like the other important side characters. But nope, she's female. She HAD to be involved in SOME sort of romantic setting. (or sexual - one or both of these two things are inescapably attached to female characters in 60-70% anime)
She was given a 30-year-old simp. She's put into a convoluted love-triange (a whole other complaint). She's the only one involved in the ecchi genre.

[Minor spoilers regarding Nakai]
He sits out in freezing snow outside her apartment working extra hours so that she'll consider him back. During the duration of the whole show, they keep bringing up his romantic obsession with her. But just to excuse his behavior this time, they suddenly start redirecting the spotlight to his passion for manga. In the real world, what happened to Aoki-san was that she was guilt-tripped and manipulated. People who have experience with stalkers and being guilt-tripped would know. Oh, did I mention he's 30 and not a high schooler. Yeah.

3. Tagaki and Miyoshi's relationship is so forced. He only says he likes her while putting virtually nothing into their relationship. In fact, he's extremely dismissive of her, her feelings, and rude most of their screentime together. This leading to marriage as a plot tool to 'fix' a forced love triangle is a cop-out. But at least we get a conclusion to the romance.

Tl;dr: Amazing main-plot, bad sub-plots. You're welcome.

I'm sort of disappointed to be writing this review for such a well-renowned anime. I'll try to keep this short and to the point. Please read for a decent understanding of what you're getting yourself into. This review is only for S1.

Yes, Bakuman's main plot is greatly executed. It delves deep into the lives of mangakas. You will actually learn something from this anime (albeit, not in detail) about what it takes to become a published mangaka. The dialogue is decent, the direction and pacing are good too. Gets a bit wonky around the start of 2nd cour ... but quickly recovers. Some characters are likable. And that is regrettably where the good part ends.

Now, I'm aware that many viewers are satisfied so long as the "central" plot is well-executed. However, for people who don't look at anime as a sum of its parts but instead as a WHOLE, read-ahead [Mild spoilers]:

1) MC (Mashiro) x Love interest (Miho) summed up:
"We have never talked to each other, we don't know ANYTHING about one another. Yet we're SO deeply in love that merely talking to each other with our mouths will ruin our career and life plans forever, because we're all we'd think about! We cannot date! But our first-ever interaction will be a PROMISE to get married! But talking henceforth is BANNED until both of us have secured careers. Till then, we will be in a pseudo-long-distance relationship. Though we sit shoulder-to-shoulder in class, we ONLY communicate via writing! Again, we'd like to remind you that we're practically strangers and each other's future-husband/wife!"

Does that sound like an exaggeration? Unrealistic? Unfortunately, this is their premise. I could argue that an MC who is career-oriented considers his love-life second, finds a girl, and tells her she'll be his motivation to do good. That would make sense. But this MC is actually so obsessed with his girl that he is in a hurry to get serialized just so he can START talking to her. She does the same thing.
They're also not strangers who look up to each other, with a desire to improve themselves to be worthy before they can start dating. Oh no, no, that would make too much sense. Our MCs have ALREADY chosen each other AND decided to get married!! What's stopping them is a self-imposed ban with no rhyme or reason. A promise that makes little to no sense. Yes, if your love is taking over the rest of your life, it is natural to take some space. But why do our MCs love each other so consumingly? They only knew each other's faces and names at the start. Sometimes it's sweet, sometimes it's creepy. Most people will give this a pass because they're only middle schoolers, but this premise doesn't change even as they grow up. It would've made for a good story if the set-up was better. All of this makes MCs drive to become a mangaka feel shallow compared to the original narrative that started with him following his late uncle's footsteps which brings me to:

2) Unlikable Mashiro:
Mashiro is rude, and sort of bitchy here and there throughout the show. His drive to become a mangaka quickly switches from his uncle to a classmate-cum-stranger that he's in love with because they'd marry each other after getting careers (Not to say that his uncle isn't in his mind anymore). He is seen insisting on getting things done quickly, speaking his mind unnecessarily sometimes, and dragging our second MC (Takagi) along his whims.

3) Sparse sexism here and there. (If you don't care about this, you should):
"Men have dreams that a woman wouldn't understand." They say this, but write Miho to have the same drive and passion as Mashiro. Hypocritical, much?
Next up, Takagi's monologue about how Miho is better than Iwase (class topper) because Miho knows how to play her 'girly' cards right, chooses a safe-for-women career because marriage is a girl's ultimate goal.
Then we have Miyoshi who says that even though she's good at combat sport, she's giving them up because she wants a more "girly dream". Lol, okay, personal preference I guess.
Ohba isn't really known for his treatment of his women characters.

4) The spat of episode 19: Mashiro is allowed to base his entire career around his girl, but Takagi being a normal boyfriend and having a life outside of the grind is enough for Mashiro to throw a passive-aggressive tantrum. A small fight between Ashirogi Muto is good, as it helps deepen their bond as they patch up, but the premise of this felt weak and could've easily been resolved with the barest of communication.
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Anyhow, if you look past these things, this anime is quite enjoyable and the next seasons follow suit. Its reputation as a good show probably stems from the uniqueness and desirability of its genre, the central plot's premise and good writing, and Ohba's & Obata's reputation. Once an anime catches positive hype it usually hardly faces 'trivial' criticism. :)